Chapter 56 – T-Minus One Day

AN: Before you read this chapter, you need to go to youtube and listen to "Zoo Station" by U2 from their Achtung Baby CD. You'll see why.

Last time:

Plain Clothes came up to us, "are you all right?"

Sookie answered, "we're fine, but could you really check on his wife. I'm worried that he may have hurt her." He nodded. "Thank you." Then she looked up at me, "can we go home now?"

I knew that even this innocent shopping trip had turned into yet another circus. I was beginning to believe that nothing with Sookie would ever be simple and uneventful. Ah well, life would never be dull…

Now:

Pam reclaimed her shopping bags, and the four of us started to head out of the mall. Before we took more than a few steps, several of the people in the crowd held out their phones and asked for selfies with us. Well, mostly with me, but a few wanted both Sookie and me in pictures with them. I looked at Sookie and she just shrugged, so we took about a dozen selfies before I held up my hands, smiled, and said, "sorry, but we need to be going." No one seemed particularly upset at my calling an end to the selfie spree. We continued our trek to the mall doors while reporters shouted out questions. I decided just to ignore them in favor of making it out of the mall.

Once outside of the mall, we discovered a whole new crowd of people and reporters, and of course the paparazzi cameras were flashing a mile a minute. We finally made it to the SUV and headed home.

"Good lord," Sookie exclaimed once we were on our way. "That was intense. I'll never take shopping for granted again." Rasul and I just chuckled.

"One should never take shopping for granted, my dear Sookie," Pam stated as if she were sharing something biblical. The chuckles from Rasul and me turned into full-on guffaws at that statement. She looked at both of us and asked, "what's so funny?" which just made us laugh that much harder. Even Sookie chuckled a little. "Whatever…" Pam stated, shaking her head. Rasul threw his arm around Pam's shoulder and kissed her on the temple. At that gesture, even she smiled.

After we dropped Rasul and Pam off at Pam's house, Sookie and I made our way home. Once inside, Clovache was there to assure herself of our safety, and then she retired to her room. For just a moment, I contemplated Clovache's possible boredom. I thought that maybe we should find things to entertain her more, but then I remembered the astronomical sum we were paying for her services, and I let myself off of that particular hook. Even so, I vowed to find things to interest her in the future.

True to my word, I led Sookie to my laptop in the bedroom and left her alone to order the accessories she needed for her new dresses. I turned on the television and reclined on the sofa to watch while she completed her tasks. However, I was monitoring her actions enough that I noticed when she pulled out her own credit card to pay for purchases. With vampire speed I arrived at her side at the computer and grabbed her credit card out of her hand. "No, my Sookie, these purchases are on me," I stated.

"Eric, I have money," she protested.

I smiled, "I know, my love, but if we had been able to buy these items at the mall tonight, you know I would have paid for them just like your dresses. Why should it be any different now?" She seemed conflicted. "Sookie, I am very proud of the business you've created. However, compared to other businesses, it's still in its infancy. The more money you can save and re-invest in your business, the more successful it will become. Let me help you with that by saving you money on the day to day expenses of your living. I am your husband, or at least I will be in another day or so. I promise that no one will celebrate the success of The Enchanted Forest more than I."

Sookie looked into my eyes for a moment, weighing my words, and then she smiled, "OK." When she finished up her shopping she brought my credit card to me along with a list of the purchases and where they could be picked up. "Thank you, my Eric, for my beautiful new things."

I returned her smile, "you're very welcome, my Sookie." I hugged her to me. "Hold on a moment, and I will arrange to have them picked up and delivered?" She nodded, and I rapidly sent an email to my day man. When I was done, I returned to her. "Are you finished shopping for the night?" Again, she nodded. "Well then, how do you feel about a late night dip in the pool? Clothing completely optional…"

She closed her eyes, "Mmmmm…" was all she replied. It was all I needed. I picked her up, and I carried her upstairs at vamp speed.

Soon we were both naked and making out in the pool. Sookie came up for air and started to giggle. "What?" I asked her.

"Are you sure you are ready for your bachelor party? I can't believe you let Jason plan it."

"Why? What does he have planned?" I asked, genuinely curious. When Jason had offered, while he was staying here at our house, I had agreed without giving it a second thought. Now, Sookie was making me wonder if I'd made a mistake. And apparently Lafayette was planning Sookie's bachelorette party.

"I have no idea. He and Lafayette have been whispering together for the last couple days, and worse they start to giggle after a while. But when I ask them what they're up to, they get really sober really fast and say 'nothing' in unison. So I know they are both up to something," Sookie said.

I shook my head, "well, you can tell me all about your party after you get home tomorrow night, and I'll tell you about mine," I offered.

"Uhmm… Eric, I'm not spending the night here tomorrow night… didn't you know that?" she asked.

What?! "What do you mean? Why won't you be coming home?" I asked, slightly panicked. How could I assure her safety if she were not only out without me, but also spending the night somewhere else?

"Relax, Eric. I'll have Clovache with me the whole time, as well as Pam, Lafayette, and Jesus at the party. I'm spending the night at Gran's because it's bad luck for the groom to see the bride on their wedding day before the wedding. It was Gran's idea, and I agreed, so that we could spend the day together. My wedding dress is already there," Sookie added. She looked at my face and cracked up laughing, "are you actually pouting, Eric?"

I put my hand on my mouth only to discover that I was, in fact, pouting. I couldn't help but chuckle, because I don't think I'd ever pouted as a vampire. Or as a human man. "Why am I just hearing about this now?" I diverted.

She smiled, "well, I've been thinking about it for a while, but Gran and I talked about it today, and that's when I made my decision. I'm taking the day off, and Gran and I are going to a salon/spa to get the full pampering and beauty treatment."

I hated that that all made sense. I hated even more the thought of even one night without my Sookie. She was looking closely at me, "what, Eric?"

I smiled and shook my head once more, "how am I supposed to have a good time at my bachelor party when I'm worrying about your safety?" I asked.

"Don't be silly. We were always going to have separate parties. That hasn't changed."

"Yes, but I thought that I would be seeing you at the end of the evening…" She tilted her head and lifted one eyebrow. I knew that look; it meant I was being ridiculous. "Check that eyebrow, my love, I'm quite aware that I'm being ridiculous. I guess I never want to be separated from you. And before you protest, I know that we can't always – how do you say it? – be joined at the hip." I thought for a second, "you know what this means, don't you?"

"What?" she chuckled.

"That I'm going to be horny as hell all during our wedding. It will have been nearly two whole days since we fucked!" I exclaimed.

She made really sad eyes at me and said, "poor Eric… however will you endure it? I guess we'll just have to make up for it tonight, eh?" And at that declaration she waggled her eyebrows and attempted to swim away from me. I grabbed her foot before she could get too far and pulled her back to me.

"Just where do you think you are going?" I asked as I wrapped my arms around her. She threw back her head and giggled merrily. I kissed down the column of her throat and payed special attention to the indention at the bottom. She gasped at the sensation. I kissed my way to her ear, "are you sure you want to miss this tomorrow night?" I whispered.

"Mmmmm… I'll miss you, too, my Eric," she whispered back just as I lifted her up and then down onto myself. "Aaahhhh…" she sighed.

How did I ever exist before this amazing, magical, beautiful woman entered my life? I would never get over how complete she made me feel. Not just when we were having sex, but especially when we were having sex. She put her hands on my shoulders to assist her in her up and down, up and down. I put my hands on either side of her waist to help her. And then we kissed. Her kisses, gods her kisses, were better than anything else on this planet. Soon, not only was she moving herself up and down, but also adding little hip rotations every time she moved all the way down on me. Where the hell did she learn such things? I know for a fact that she was a virgin before me. Her sexual intuition was unparalleled. She ran her tongue up the side of my neck to my ear which she treated the same as my mouth, thrusting her tongue in and around. Gods that turned me on. I literally felt my eyes roll back in my head. I always prided myself on my stamina, but Sookie was constantly challenging it. She just felt so fucking good! Before long, both of us were breathing heavily, which was quite the feat, since I didn't even need to breathe. But something about making love to my Sookie pushed all my boundaries. We both came together with loud exclamations, a bright light shooting forth from where we were joined, and then just held each other tightly while she leaned her head against the side of mine. I would swear that I felt my heart beat several times before it stopped again.

"I love you so fucking much, Sookie," I breathed. "I swear to the gods that my need for you is like an ache deep inside me." She tried to speak a few times before just nodding her head.

When she'd recovered the ability to speak, she whispered in my ear, "after I leave tomorrow morning, then next time we'll see other will be at our wedding. And then you'll truly be mine."

I knew that she understood the sacredness of our bond, but to her the wedding would truly unite us. "I'll be the one at the end of the aisle waiting for you…"

I could feel her smile on my shoulder, "I'll be the one in white walking toward you…" I closed my eyes as I imagined how beautiful she would look. I was still inside her, and I became instantly hard again.

Sookie felt it instantly, looked up at me, and responded with, "well, well, well… look who's ready to go again." I just smirked at her, and she looked directly into my eyes and joined her forehead to mine as she once again started to move, very, very slowly. "Eric, how are we ever going to get anything done? All I want to do when I'm with you is have sex." She continued to move up and down, up and down. "I know other couples…" she was breathing heavily, "talk and (pant-thrust) eat and (pant-thrust) watch TV and (pant-thrust) surf the internet and (pant-thrust) other stuff. But all I want to do (pant-thrust) when I'm with you (pant-thrust) is… is… is… fuck!"

I knew she was nearly lost in the moment because my Sookie didn't use profanity. Ever. "I understand your dilemma? Confusion? I feel the exact same way, my love" I answered. I wanted to say that at some distant point in the future we would feel differently, but I couldn't make that statement and believe it. I knew that I would never tire of her love… of her body… So, I simply kissed her, repositioning my mouth over hers again and again and again. When we'd fulfilled this sexual excursion, we moved on to another one in the hot tub. Ultimately, we moved down to our bedroom at nearly three in the morning, where we made love for almost another hour. Afterward, we lay face to face in bed, just caressing each other.

"We're so close, my Eric, to being husband and wife. I can hardly believe it," Sookie said with a tired smile.

"You need to sleep, my love. I want you to enjoy yourself tomorrow night." She yawned widely. I pulled her to me, "sleep. I've got you," I said.

"Mmmhmmm…" she said as she drifted off with her head on my shoulder. I kept softly rubbing my hand up and down her back and leaned my cheek against the top of her head. And I wondered for the umpteenth time how I got so fucking lucky. Soon after, I fell asleep myself.

I slept a peaceful, dreamless sleep. When the alarm clock went off the next morning, my eyes popped open, almost like awakening from the normal vampire day-death. I felt Sookie stretch and reach over to shut off the blaring, obnoxious noise of the alarm. She sat up and stretched again. I sat up with her and kissed her on the shoulder nearest me. "Hey you," she said with a sleepy smile.

"Hey yourself," I said as I pulled her to me and kissed the top of her head and hugged her. "Let's hop into the shower together, ok?" I offered.

"OK," she replied and threw back the covers on our bed. She stood to the side of the bed and held out her hand to me. I grabbed it and then rushed us to the shower. We washed and laughed together, in addition to having a rousing, joyful round of morning sex. When we made our way back into the bedroom, I noticed that Sookie was packing a bag. I guess that made sense, since she would be spending the night with her grandmother, and then need to get ready for the wedding elsewhere. Still, it made my heart feel uncomfortable.

"This will be the last night, EVER, that we spend apart, my Sookie," I declared with determination.

She looked at me and smiled, "absolutely." When she had finished her packing and gotten dressed, she put her hand on the side of my face and said, "until tomorrow night, my Eric. We will be forever together. I love you so, so much."

I couldn't help but smile, "have fun tonight."

She again tilted her head to the side, "you too, but not too much." She waggled her eyebrows after her statement. I cracked up at that sight.

"I'm not the one staying away from you tonight, Sookie," I laughed. "I love you, too." And with that, she turned and walked away from me. I shook my head as I remembered that tomorrow night I would make her mine… as she said… forever. Oh gods, please let that be true, I fervently prayed.

I sat down and looked at my emails. I had one from Maxwell Lee that was somewhat troubling. Apparently there were so many people clambering to get into Fangtasia last night that there was almost a riot. It probably wasn't good business, but since we were going to be closed for the wedding, I figured we might as well close tonight as well. That would let things settle down a bit, and it had the bonus of freeing both Maxwell Lee and Francois for the bachelor party. I emailed him back with instructions, and then I emailed Jason to let him know as well since he was planning the party.

Again, I wondered what I had gotten myself into with Jason. Surely he wouldn't think that a vampire bachelor party would involve getting wasted at some dive bar or hotel room stripper party. I shook my head. Fairly quickly, I got an email response from Jason instructing me to have all my friends at my house a half hour after full dark, and that he would pick us all up there. That thought gave me pause. I did a mental head count, and I knew there were seven people in our party – in addition to Jason and me, there were Godric, Rasul, Maxwell Lee, Francois, and Jason's friend Hoyt – that I knew of, and Jason drove a truck that would hold four people comfortably and five at the most. Were the rest of us supposed to ride in the back? Visions of all of us dressed in overalls over plaid shirts, wearing dilapidated straw hats, with a long sliver of hay stalk hanging from the side of our mouths filled my imagination.

I also tried to remember that as much as Jason played the 'good ole boy' routine, he was actually quite bright. Gods, I hoped he was.

I heard a noise upstairs, and I realized it was my day man delivering Sookie's dresses, maybe even her other purchases as well. That would be great. Once I heard him let himself back out of the house, I headed upstairs. Sure enough, Sookie's dresses were laid over the back of a living room chair. In addition there were numerous other bags. Excellent. I took them all downstairs and checked everything against the list Sookie had given me last night. Everything was here. I hung all of the dresses in Sookie's closet, and placed the other bags beside the sofa in our bed chamber. I wanted her to be able to find everything easily when we got ready to pack for Washington.

As the day passed, my curiosity for what lay in store tonight only grew. I guess I was accustomed to being in charge of events, but ever since I'd met Sookie, I'd learned that all bets were off regarding expectations.

About two o'clock my phone rang. "Northman," I answered without looking at the caller ID.

"Eric are you all right?" Sookie asked.

And just like that something eased in my chest, "yes, my love, I am fine. Why do you ask?" I responded.

"Well, I've been getting this really weird vibe from you today. It's almost like you are… I don't know… fretting," she replied.

I raised an eyebrow she couldn't see, "I beg your pardon. I will have you know that I do not fret. Never have, never will." By the gods, I had been fretting, but I wasn't about to admit to it.

There was a momentary silence on her end before she snickered, "OK. If you say so…" Then there was another silence, "you know I'll be OK tonight, right?"

Ah, so that's why she thinks I'm fretting. "Of course, Sookie. Please have fun, and…" I paused.

"And what?" she asked after a few seconds.

"You don't happen to know what Jason has planned for tonight do you?"

"Ahhhh, that's what the fretting was about."

I interrupted her, "I repeat, I do not fret… So what does he have planned?" By the gods, what was happening to me? Pouting last night and fretting today. Pull yourself together, Northman.

She giggled, "I have no idea. He's being very secretive, and so is Lafayette. There's no telling when it comes to those two…"

"He knows vampires can't drink and eat, right?" I asked.

"Duh, Eric. Of course. Don't worry so much about it; I'm sure whatever he's got planned will be fine… at least I hope so," she said.

Her final equivocation didn't exactly inspire a lot of confidence. I needed to suck it up and stop worrying. "You're right; I'm sure it will be fine. You have fun tonight, my Sookie, and next time I see you will be moments away from being married."

"That's right… You have fun tonight, too, and I love you, Eric," she said almost breathlessly.

We both hung up. I decided that if whatever Jason had planned was totally inappropriate for the five vampires in the party, that I would gently persuade him in a new direction. He was going to be my brother-in-law, so I wanted to get along. After that I watched a little television, played games on my computer, and just generally… putzed around the house, I think it was called. I did check the news a few times to see if there was any more word on Ocella (there wasn't), and what news they had from last night's incident in the mall. There was quite a bit of coverage about that, and it was all favorable for me and my shopping party. In fact, protests had sprung up at a lot of the Fellowship of the Sun churches after the news broke. Excellent.

Finally, it was time to get ready for Jason's bachelor party. He had said to dress casually, so I donned my usual t-shirt (this one was a Harley Davidson shirt) and jeans. Godric was the first to arrive at my house followed closely by Maxwell Lee and Francois, who had ridden together. Rasul was the last to arrive since he was being dropped off by Pam, who was then heading out to join Sookie's bachelorette party. My vampire friends all asked what we were doing, and I had to confess to them that I had no idea.

At almost exactly half an hour after full dark, there was a knock on the door. Jason was leaning against the exterior door jamb with a shit-eating grin and his friend Hoyt.

"Y'all ready to par—tay?" he asked boisterously. His enthusiasm was met with dead silence from the vampires, which made his friend Hoyt snicker after a minute. He was not discouraged, "well, come on then, and he gestured to the obnoxious monster of an automobile in the driveway opposite the front door. Apparently, he had rented a super-stretch Hummer limo. "Ain't she a beauty?" he asked beaming.

Godric was the first to try to be nice, "well… she certainly is big." Maxwell Lee even whistled.

"Come on, let's all hop in," Jason encouraged. The seven of us got into the rear of the limo, and there was room for several more people.

"Are we expecting anyone else to join us?" I asked as the limo took off.

"Nope, I just wanted us to have plenty of room. You're a big fella, Eric, but in here you can stretch right on out, if you wanna. Cool, huh?" he said.

His enthusiasm was proving to be contagious, and I smiled, "cool." I paused, "where's Batanya?" If she were letting him roam around without protection we would have words.

"She rode here with us, but when we got here, she popped back to Sookie. She's going to be a part of that party." That made sense; it would be hard to attack Jason with five vampires as protection.

That was when I noticed there were curtains that were fastened in gathers over top and bottom curtain rods over all of the windows. I reached over to see if there was a split in the curtains, but Jason stopped me.

"Uh, uh, uh… No peaking. I want our destination to be a total surprise," he admonished with a wide smile. I looked at him for a moment, and he gave me a pleading-eye look, so I shrugged and decided to play along. I did as he had recommended and stretched 'right on out'.

Jason then opened a box at the front of the limo and passed out warm Royalty Blended to all the vampires. I expected him to drink a bottle of beer, or something else alcoholic, but to my surprise, he pulled out two soft drinks for him and Hoyt. I guess he thought that since the vampires weren't getting drunk then neither would the humans? That seemed extraordinarily polite for Jason.

Then a thought occurred to him, "Hoyt, did I forget to introduce you to everyone?" Hoyt smiled and nodded. "Sorry, bubba, I'm just excited. Hey everyone, this here is Hoyt Fortenberry. He's going to be one of the ushers at the wedding tomorrow. He's known me and Sook all our lives. Hoyt, this here is my future brother-in-law Eric, his buddy Rasul, his buddy Godric, and I know you two are the other ushers, but I don't think I caught your names the other night," he said to Francois and Maxwell Lee. I was still trying not to laugh from Rasul and Godric being referred to as my buddies. I was appreciative of his discretion in not revealing that Godric was my maker.

I spoke up, "My apologies, Jason, this is Maxwell Lee, the manager of Fangtasia and a friend and this is Francois who has been my friend for a few centuries."

The vampires all nodded to Hoyt who replied softly with a small wave, "nice to me y'all." It was obvious that Hoyt was a little on the shy side which was a perfect complement for Jason's larger than life persona. No wonder they were such good friends.

We'd been riding and talking about trivialities for quite a little while, and I realized we were headed in a northerly direction. I still had no idea where we were going. "Any idea of how much longer till we get… where we are going?" I asked.

Jason's wide smile returned, "it won't be long now…" he said enigmatically with a waggle of his eyebrows. Soon after his statement the car turned right, went forward in the new direction for about a half a mile, then I could tell by the sounds around the car that we entered a tunnel that was about 50 yards long, then we drove about 200 feet onto grass and the car stopped. Jason exclaimed with exuberance, "we're here!"

He opened the back door of the limo, and with an arm gesture motioned for all of us to come out. We got out and looked around. We were in the grassy center of a large… motor speedway, only there was no one in the spectator stands. In fact, the only other person I could see here was a young man about the same age as Jason and Hoyt in a racing jumpsuit with all of the patches and insignia on it.

"Howdy, y'all," he said. "Welcome to the Shreveport Speedway Supertrack. It's off-season for us here, so Jason was able to arrange this little party for you. I understand there are seven of you, right?"

I looked around the racetrack and noticed seven cars lined up at a starting line. Jason had arranged for us to drive Nascar race cars for my bachelor party? Holy Fuck! That was about the greatest thing I could think of.

"Cool," Godric said with a big grin. By now, all of the normally stoic vampires were smiling.

"You set this up?" I asked Jason.

"Danny here went to high school with me and Hoyt. His father owns the track, so I called and asked. When I told him who it was for, of course he agreed. Did I do good?"

I nodded, "you did GREAT, Jason. This is most unexpected."

Danny said, "now if you all will follow me." We dutifully did so as he walked us over to the cars. To the side of the racetrack was a rack of helmets. "First of all, I have to ask, do all of you know how to drive?" We all nodded. "OK, I need for all of you to sign these release forms that basically say that you can't sue us if you get in a wreck." He passed out the forms, and we all quickly signed them. I could tell that everyone was really excited. The cars looked really fast and had all of the emblems and numbers that you would see in a real race. Danny continued once he had all of the forms back, "now each of you will have to wear a helmet and strap in with the seatbelt system. Do you all agree to that? Just nod your heads," he joked, and we did.

"OK, now, Mr. Northman, you are the groom, right?" he asked, and I nodded. "So you get the newest car, the Camaro ZL1, that red car. Does anyone have a preference for the other cars? We have a Chevrolet SS, Toyota Camry, Ford Fusion, Ford Mustang, Chevrolet Monte Carlo, and Chevy Camaro. Take your pick." Everyone else chose a car and a helmet.

I pulled Jason aside, "Jason, this has to be very expensive… you shouldn't have spent so much."

Jason smiled, "yeah, normally it is. I was gonna pass the hat to help pay for it, but when Danny and his dad found out who you are, that you saved America, they gave this to me/us for free! That's why I had enough to go and get the hummer." I laughed, and Jason continued in a whisper, "they may want to take some pictures with you before we go… Ok?" I continued chuckling and nodded. Jason had done very, very well, and I told him so. He blushed and said, "tomorrow night you become my brother. I wanted to do something special for you." I found myself thinking that I was going to like having Jason for a brother. Jason continued, "I mean, I know you can't drink, and over your long life you've seen so many women that a strip show wouldn't mean much, but this…" he gestured to the racetrack and cars, "what fella with a Y chromosome don't want to do this?" I simply laughed and nodded in agreement.

Danny stood before us and explained the track, the length of our race, the rules for the race, the fact that there were no pit crews, so if we blew a tire or something we were simply out of the race and needed to pull over to the right. He then cautioned us, "Vampires, I know you guys have amazing reflexes and stuff, but don't overestimate your car. I mean, they're fast and all, but they can't defy the laws of physics, OK?" We all chuckled and nodded. "OK, get into your cars and get ready."

Danny moved to the rack and pulled out a flag and crossed to the grass just on the inside of the track. He pulled out a bullhorn, "gentlemen, start your engines." I turned over the ignition, and the Camaro ZL1 roared to life. I heard the other engines cranking and screaming as well. The competitor in me took over; I was going to win this fucking race. I think all seven of us were gunning our engines. I don't know why, maybe we all just liked the sound. Out of the speakers in the racetrack I could hear a blaring song by U2 starting. Perfect. He let the songs instrumental introduction, which sounded like gunning engines build to just before the beginning of the vocals and then he waved the flag to GO.

And go we did. My corvette could really go, but this car had been designed, engineered, and built specifically for racing. I immediately took the lead, but Godric was just to my right trying to take over the lead. And surprisingly, Jason was challenging him for second place.

We rounded curve after curve, jockeying for position. Interestingly, we all took the lead at one point or another, even Hoyt. Around and around the track we went. I took the lead again, vying with Godric for first place. We finally got the flag for the penultimate circuit, and everyone punched their accelerators. And as we rounded the last curve, Godric and I were neck and neck, or bumper and bumper. I could see Danny up ahead with the checkered flag, and I floored it. I won! We all took our feet off of the accelerator and made one last, slower paced lap around the course. Ultimately, we all pulled up to the starting/finish line, parked, and turned off our engines. The race had lasted less than an hour, but gods, it was fun.

We all got out of our cars smiling. Danny had a bottle of champagne that he shook, and then let spray all over us. He even had a trophy for the winner, which he awarded to me. Then another racetrack worker emerged with a camera, and all of us posed for pictures together to commemorate our visit here and my bachelor party. Then we took several pictures with Danny and his father who has shown up at the end of the race. Then finally I took pictures with Danny and his father to thank them for the use of the racetrack and cars.

When we were all back in the hummer limo, we were all talking a mile a minute, even the vampires. It was safe to say that we'd all enjoyed this race immensely.

Jason, who was smiling from ear to ear, asked, "so, everyone had a good time?" General words of assent stated that we did. He chuckled, "but wait there's more…"

AN: Thank you for all the kind words since the last posting. Also, thank you to all those who watched little Sookie singing in her church choir and told me how much you enjoyed it. It's not too late if you want to see that. You just have to PM (private message) me, and I'll send you the link. By the way, I was a professional theatrical sound designer for 20 years. Seriously. Just saying… I have an amazingly eclectic library of music and sound effects. I have some special music picked out for the wedding, and I hope you will try to give it a listen before you read that chapter. That specific music will be posted at the beginning of that chapter.

Thank you so much for all the reviews since the last chapter, as of 1/31/18: Duckbutt, 2 Guests, Asami's clown, ljhjelm49, MsNorthman, VampMad50, princessspot5, Casey8686, Jfozz, Perfecta999, ericlover69, ciasteczko, jackie69, tleel, bttrflybelle, Nicolle1977, The Vikings Succubus, hmmingbirdgrrl